Chelsea are growing in confidence that they can hijack Manchester United’s deal for Alvaro Morata and believe manager Antonio Conte holds the key. The Spanish striker was believed to have agreed terms with United last week, though the Red Devils were still waiting to agree a fee with Real Madrid after unsuccessful talks. That delay has allowed Chelsea to barge in at the last minute, and the Mirror say Morata’s desire to work under Conte could swing the deal in their favour. United have recently become the main protagonists in Cristiano Ronaldo’s latest transfer saga, with the Portuguese winger thought…
Author: David Folami
Man-of-the-match awards at major tournaments are not renowned for their originality but it still seemed a questionable move when, amid a chaotic finale to Portugal’s 2-2 draw with Mexico, FIFA announced that Cristiano Ronaldo had been voted the game’s stand-out player. Ronaldo had not been bad at all; he created one goal and was involved in another and also hit the bar in the first half. But singling him out simply brought him into focus — where none more was really needed — and cast into fresh light the question that had hung over the build-up to one of the…
Pep Guardiola wants his Manchester City full-backs to play in the way Dani Alves did for him when they were together at Barcelona — and the easiest way to do that is to buy the Brazilian himself. Sources have said that City are interested in signing the Juventus right-back, who could be available for as little as £5 million. City are in the hunt for new full-backs after Guardiola allowed Pablo Zabaleta, Bacary Sagna and Gael Clichy to leave at the end of their contracts in June along with winger Jesus Navas, who ended the season at right-back. The coach…
Cristiano Ronaldo brushed off speculation about his Real Madrid future, although Portugal conceded a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw with Mexico at the Confederations Cup on Sunday. Ronaldo teed up Ricardo Quaresma to fire Portugal ahead in the first half in Kazan, but the goal was cancelled out before the break by Mexico striker Javier Hernandez’s bullet header. Cedric Soares restored Portugal’s lead on 86 minutes, but Hector Moreno’s stoppage-time header salvaged a point for Mexico in their Group A opener. Ronaldo, 32, is reportedly furious over a tax probe into the off-shore accounts dealing with his image rights,…
Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino is already looking forward to the start of next season and says that playing Newcastle United in their Premier League opener will give the players a little bit of extra motivation. After their trip to St James’ Park on August 12, Tottenham will host champions Chelsea for their first home game at Wembley, which is being used while White Hart Lane undergoes redevelopment, a week later. “We’re starting to prepare the season and we cannot wait to start again,” Pochettino told the club’s website. (www.tottenhamhotspur.com) “This is a moment for our players to enjoy their…
Chelsea Midfielder Eden Hazard tried to play down speculation that he is about to move away from Stamford Bridge by describing how settled he feels with his Chelsea “family”. The Belgium international scored 17 goals and provided five assists to help Chelsea win the Premier League title and reach the FA Cup final last season. Media reports have linked the playmaker, who joined Chelsea in 2012, with a big money move to Spanish champions Real Madrid but Hazard said he feels at home at Stamford Bridge. “I like this club because it’s a family,” Hazard told the club’s website. (www.chelseafc.com)…
Several months after Bill Cosby was dragged to court on sexual assault charges, a US judge has declared a mistrial on Saturday, June 17. This comes after the jury deadlocked following more than 50 hours of deliberations over whether to convict the embattled TV star. The move sees the 79-year-old comic act who earlier faced spending the rest of his life in prison, walk free. Cosby was being tried on three counts of aggravated indecent assault against 44-year-old Andrea Constand at his Philadelphia mansion in January 2004.
Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti state has said that former Governors Kayode Fayemi and Segun Oni cannot win the 2018 governorship election. Fayose said this while speaking to political leaders at the Ekiti state Government House on Friday, June 16, 2017. This is following reports that Segun Oni, a former Governor of Ekiti will be taking part in the 2018 guber race. Fayose said “Just because Ayo Fayose has won a second term to become governor of Ekiti, some people also think they can come back now, but I want to tell them that it is not possible. “I am…
Olakunle Oladunni Churchill may not be so thrilled by the new roles Tonto Dikeh has taken upon herself where their son, King, is concerned. The Philantropist shared the post shortly after Poko shared a video of picture clips taken of herself and King, at his school’s father’s day celebration. The photos showed Tonto dressed as a man while attending the father’s day celebration. Olakunle posted a quote saying that people shouldn’t play the victim for circumstances they created. He went on to caption the post, “It’s cruel and it’s unfair. “You are lying to yourself because you seek comfort. Well,…
Striking workers of Nasarawa State Government on Friday said that non-payment of their salaries had made them to break Ramadan fast with only water. In interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Keffi, the workers called on the government to pay them their three months’ salary arrears and other entitlements to save their families from hardship. NAN reports that the workers began an indefinite strike on May 12 to press home their demand for payment of salary arrears, and regular promotion of workers, among others things. A teacher, Alhaji Garba Audu, said: “I am a teacher with the…
The Lagos State government has reportedly demolished several shanties along the railway line in Ijora area on Thursday, June 15, 2017. According to a report by The Guardian, the structures erected along the railway route were demolished by men of the state’s task force. It was further gathered that quite a number of occupiers of the shanties, which were constructed with wood and roofing sheets, were around to pack some of their belongings out before they were demolished. Many of the residents were reportedly seen quickly moving their belongings out of their rooms with some others removing their rooftops and…
Uchenna Precious, Wife of kidnap kingpin, Evans better known as Evans has begged the Federal Government to spare her husband. Although Precious denied knowledge of her husband’s crimes, she said the man is a ‘prayer warrior’ and must be under a curse to have been part of the heinous crimes he was accused of. She said Evans reads “Psalm 23 a lot”, and that he leads the morning and evening prayers in the house. In an interview with Vanguard, Precious also disclosed that her husband is suffering from cancer, which is why, according to her, he neither drinks nor smoke.…
Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu has terminated the appointment of the State Commissioners, retaining only two. The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), special advisers and senior special assistants were also sacked. He retained his Chief of Staff, Sunny Nwakodo, the Commissioner for Finance, Obinna Oriaku, and the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General of the state, Umeh Kalu (SAN). This was disclosed in a statement signed and posted on the state government’s official website by the Permanent Secretary, Government House, Onyii Wamah. No reason was given for the sack of the commissioners and other officials. The dissolution came after the…
If you’ve ever wanted to play like Antoine Griezmann and Thierry Henry rolled into one, then Puma’s latest football boot may just be the one for you. The sportswear company have worked in close conjunction with both aforementioned France stars to produce the ‘ONE’ boot — a single boot created to meet the needs of all types of players, from goalkeepers to strikers and everything in between. The design process began after a consultation with Griezmann and ended with Henry helping add the final tweaks to create, as Puma themselves put it, a boot that “delivers all of their needs…
After making a pilgrimage to Mecca last month, Paul Pogba, the Manchester United midfielder, pitched up in China on the latest leg of his world tour. Just a few days after playing in France’s friendly win over England, Pogba hit the tourist trail. He kicked things off by performing a “dab with a view” atop the Great Wall. He then posed for a mass selfie with a gang of Manchester United supporters at a promotional event in Beijing. The 24-year-old then rounded things off with a jaunt to the Forbidden City, where he was once again more than happy to…
Edson Arantes de Nascimento, known to you and me as Pele, is often considered by many to be the greatest footballer of all time. So it is only natural that he gets asked the question: who is the greatest player currently… and the Brazilian’s answer was almost immediate: Pele’s record goal tally is something to marvel at, between 7 Sep 1956 to 1 Oct 1977 the great man played in 1,363 games and scored a quite astounding 1,279 goals – goals that ranged from the mundane to the utterly out-of-the-world. Here’s a collection of his best goals… because, why not?…
Victor Lindelof has told Aftonbladet he is ‘”ready to adapt” to the pressure of playing for one the world’s biggest clubs after completing his move from Benfica to Manchester United. Lindelof, 22, has cost the Premier League club a reported fee of €35 million and signed a four-year contract at Old Trafford. The centre-back, who has won 12 full caps for Sweden, also revealed that manager Jose Mourinho had helped persuade him to swap Lisbon for Manchester. “I’m proud and happy to have been given this chance, but I need a few days so that everything calms down,” Lindelof said.…
Mrs Kemi Adeosun, the Minister of Finance, said the Federal Government invested the sum of N200 billion on roads in 2016. According to the minister, the amount is part of N1.2 trillion earmarked for capital projects to ensure ease of doing business. Adeosun said this on Friday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bloomberg Chief Executive Officer roundtable held in Lagos. She said that the N200 billion was against N90 million earmarked for road construction in 2015. According to her, government will continue to prioritise infrastructure development to unlock growth potential. The finance minister said that diversification of the…
“All Eyez on Me”, a biopic about the life of deceased rapper, 2Pac Shakur, has surprising met more negative reaction than positive since its release on June 16, 2017. One of these came from 2Pac’s close friend, Jada Pinkett Smith whose character was played by actress, Kat Graham made her thoughts known on Twitter. According to Smith, scenes captured in the movie does not aptly portray the kind of relationship she had with the rapper. “The reimagining of my relationship to Pac has been deeply hurtful”, she said. “Forgive me … my relationship to Pac is too precious to me…
Will Smith took time out of his busy schedule on Monday (June 12) to pursue some happiness at Prezzo in Egham. The Hollywood A-lister was spotted enjoying a meal with a work friend after reportedly “checking out the town as a potential filming location”. The Fresh Prince of Prezzo was branded “the coolest guy” by supervisor Dumitru “Tom” Toma, who asked the Independence Day star for some pictures after his meal. Said Mr Toma: “He had a meal in Prezzo yesterday and after he finished his meal we asked him to take few pictures with him. We’re fans too. He’s…